Here Fishy Fishy

Last year we went to a fishing derby and had such a great time that when I saw it come around again I immediately signed up. I'm thinking it may turn into an annual event as long as they keep having them. It cost $10 per child and they get a tshirt, fishing pole to keep, bait, a max of 2 fish if they catch them, & this year a nylon bag.

The day was a bit less than ideal as it was sprinkling and gloomy out. We put on our hoodies and decided to brave the elements anyway. It takes a lot more than a little rain to keep this crew down. I mean really we live in WA and we'd never get to do anything if we were afraid of getting wet.

We were there plenty early for our 9am time slot. This year the choice of poles was blue or red. It took a bit of discussion but we finally got the kids to get one of each. Both originally wanted blue but Meg later changed her mind to red. We now have 4 poles from the derby's and a few we already had. We are gathering a nice little collection.

As we headed down to the lake stocked with 1500 fish we decided to pick a different spot from last year. We went a bit further down so it wouldn't be so crowded and Jeff was sure we'd do well. So early in the morning we just felt like we couldn't possible go wrong.

The men casted out for the kids and the kids then came up to take the poles and our fishing began. We started with a little different bait then normal and found no success. We quickly changed to the power bait, little pink marshmallow things, and began to get our first nibbles. I think Meg hooked one and upon reeling it in lost it. Andrew was next to get a nibble and lost that one as well. We slowly started to get a bit worried when Meg finally hooked her first fish and kept it.

Megan was so into reeling it in. It was a hoot to watch her concentration and happiness. Slowly we started to hear people catch fish mostly at the beginning end where we were last year. The next thing we knew the time was up!! Megan only caught the 1 fish while poor Andrew didn't catch anything. He was super sad as we waited for Megan to get her 1 and only catch cleaned. It's tough to see your kids so unhappy and struggle with these types of things in life.

We had planned to go to the movies afterwards and had been keeping it a surprise. Even that idea didn't bring a smile to Andrew as we were in route in the car. We went to our oh so favorite $5 theater with electric recliners to see the new Pirates movie. By the end of the movie we had our good ol' Andrew back and life was back to normal.

It was a fun outing all the same. You can't have everything go perfect and it was a good lesson for the kids. Sometimes you don't always get everything you want. Our city is having a derby next weekend pretty close to us. This one is only $3 but you have to bring all your own stuff. I'm thinking we might want to hit it up so the kids can get their fill. I don't think there is any time limit to that one so we can spend as little or a lot of time depending on how we feel. It also says you might be able to win special prizes. It is worth thinking about. I know my kids LOVE to go fishing so I'm sure we'll be hitting it up. It is fun to do these types of things with the kids and I'm sure they'll remember them as they get older.